Zeeland West boys basketball surges past Holland Christian late

Tuesday

Feb 4, 2014 at 10:12 PMFeb 4, 2014 at 10:12 PM

By Michael.Appelgate@hollandsentinel.com(616) 546-4271

Sam Hoesch wasn’t surprised about his team’s fourth-quarter scoring run.The senior said his Zeeland West boys basketball teammates actually expected to comeback from its five-point deficit against Holland Christian at home.He wasn’t even surprised the Dux outscored the Maroons 12-0 through the first 5 minutes, 30 seconds and went on to win 63-55 on Tuesday night. Hoesch led Zeeland West with 17 points, and said they’ve come back from 10-point deficits in the fourth quarter before during games in the summer."It wasn’t a big deal," Hoesch said. "We just knew we had to keep on taking good shots and working the ball around and playing defense."Holland Christian dropped its first OK Green game of the season and is 4-1 in the league and 9-3 overall. The Dux improved to 9-4 and 4-2 in the OK Green.The fourth quarter left Holland Christian coach Jason Mejeur struggling to put into words why his offense came to a sudden halt after the game."We have to go back and watch the film," Mejeur said. "We had silly turnovers that were uncharacteristic of us. I don’t have an explanation of why we didn’t score."The Dux were down 46-41 entering the final quarter and Jordan VanDort opened the scoring with a layup. He then was sent to the free-throw line and hit one shot. While VanDort operated down low, the Maroons got off a couple of shots at the other end, but couldn’t get anything to fall.Then turnovers started to become an issue for Holland Christian. On one turnover a guard dribbled the ball off his leg on a penetrating drive and the Dux also came up with a steal off after an inbounds pass."We showed up in the fourth quarter and really put the clamps down," Zeeland West coach Kevin Towne said. "They missed some shots and they had opportunities, but when they did get those and they missed, we made sure we got the ball."Luke Dreyer hit a 3-pointer to take the lead, 47-46, two minutes into the fourth. Hoesch followed with a layup a minute later, and VanDort, who finished with seven points, tallied another layup. Hoesch competed the 12-0 run with a layup.Jared Dykstra broke the Maroons’ scoring drought with a 3, but Nick Charon responded with a 3 put the Dux up 56-49 with less than two minutes to go."We hadn’t really been shooting too well in the first half, but we knew they’d come eventually," Hoesch said. "We have good shooters and they have to honor that all the time. We have such an inside presence so that helps to open things up."Holland Christian had a chance to cut into the lead when VanDort was called for an intentional foul as he battled for a rebound then was whistled for making contact with a Maroons player as he swung his arms out.That sent Nathan Walters to the foul line, but he missed both free throws.Zeeland West hit 7-of-8 free throws down the stretch to seal the win.Dreyer pitched in 16 points for Zeeland West and Kyle Steigenga led Holland Christian with 21 points.